Why are people so defensive towards alleged rapists?

Should have written a bit more really, I just wanted to provide some stats on how many men use force to have sex after the discussion above.

As far as false accusations go, I believe that when you look at the convictions for rape vs the convictions for false allegation of rape the % of false allegations is actually a bit lower than it is for other crimes (presumably people are charged under 'perverting the course of justice' but I couldn't find figures that split it up crime by crime).

I think that because rape is so hard to prove (although thankfully not in this case) people find it much easier to believe what they want to on both sides.
YES, I get that there are far, far more victims of rapes (women and some men too) that are not prosecuted than there are victims of false allegations. However, not having the perpetrator prosecuted is a very different thing from the victim not being believed - in many cases there may not be enough evidence for a conviction but the police and counsellors, perhaps even the official in the CPS who reviews and decides against taking the case to trial, will absolutely have believed the victim. Evidence to secure a conviction is not the same as believing the rape took place.
I take a bit of issue with Selkie (and others) who seem to believe that the differing quantities of un-prosecuted rapes vs prosecuted false allegations makes the latter unimportant. I thought the whole point of feminism is to promote equality between the sexes? Both are equally wrong and it isn't for anyone else to dictate how the trauma of a rape, or the trauma of being falsely accused of a rape affects an individual. And the affects of crime are individual so crimes aren't considered more or less serious because of how many there are of particular crimes.

But back to OP's question. I think the grey area of proving whether consent was established makes rape different to other crimes in terms of the people in the lives of the accused perpetrators. It is easier to believe there was consent because often (mostly I hope) sex is consensual and often there are no witness bar the people involved. Conversely, it would be pretty hard to believe that someone consented to being beaten up or having their houses broken into and burgled. As a result people close to the accused make the choice to disbelieve the victim, and many seem to believe that shouting loudly about it and being abusive about the victim will somehow help the scumbags they are supporting.

On the bright side it seems as if whoever looks after the Facebook page for the newspaper has taken down the vile comments now they've got so much negative attention. Maybe they'll be a bit more careful of giving scumbags a platform in future. I hope the girl who named the victim has been reported to the police and gets charged and that the poster who said they were going to forward screen shots of some people's vile comments to their public service employers actually does so.

On another note...is there any reason why modern high-tech lie detectors are not used automatically in these cases? The conviction rate as it stands is so poor that I think the risks of people having the immense skill set to beat the test are very low in comparison to the many rapists who walk because their crime cannot be proved, and the margin of error lies with being inconclusive about guilt rather than falsely confirming guilt. They are routinely used to screen employees and by the security services - why are we stuck in the dark ages when there is technology that could protect the victims of crime?

Toads it's fair to say I would be devastated, but anything is possible

You wouldn't know if for example your brother had been falsely accused? Surely you would know him enough to see through his behaviour etc. You wouldn't just blanket believe because that's naïve, but through their actions surely?

How would you feel if one of your relatives was struck by lightening and then eaten by a bear NewStart?

Considering how rare false rape accusations are and how tiny the chances of one of my relatives being falsely accused are I would say that is an equally valid question.

Nobody is disputing rape happens

And nobody is disputing that false accusations happen either.

I asked how you would feel if your relative was FALSELY accused

How would I know the accusations were false?

Nobody is disputing rape happens

A THIRD of college students in the US questioned in this (well reported but admittedly small) study said they would use force to have sex if they thought they wouldn't get caught.

There have been two larger studies done asking college students and army recruits about their actual behaviour. They suggested that about 10 % of men admit to rape as long as the word rape isn't used when they are questioned.

Does anybody want to bet on how many more posts it will be before that article is posted again as some kind of proof that false accusations ruins lives (even though we don't know the accusations made against him were false)?

It's already been posted three times so next time will be the fourth...I'll give it 20 posts.

www.cps.gov.uk/thames_chiltern/cps_thames_and_chiltern_news/retracting_rape_and_domestic_violence_allegations/

This is interesting. Would you believe it? It seems people can be, or have been, prosecuted for not only for a maliciously false accusation of rape, but for retracting a rape accusation (when a rape really happened).

To clarify (yet again!) we don't know for sure that the accusation in that case was false.

She accused him of rape but then withdrew the complaint a few weeks later. He later killed himself.

That's basically all we know and neither of those things prove that he was falsely accused.

He may well have raped her. Likewise she may well have made the whole thing up and falsely accused him. The point is we don't know because it hasn't been proven either way.

Seven I'm going to copy and paste what I said earlier about that case.

It has already been pointed out that it was never actually proven to be a false accusation.

She withdrew her complaint after a few weeks however that doesn't mean she was lying. There are lots of reasons why a woman might withdraw a genuine rape complaint.

Him killing himself is not proof of a false accusation either. Plenty of people who commit crimes go on to kill themselves.

Once again I am not saying that he is a rapist. I am saying we don't know what happened.

However you can't start accusing her of a serious crime (falsely accusing people of crimes is a crime in itself remember) without proof either.

There are only two people who know for sure what happened and one of them is dead. So we will probably never know the truth.

But what if other students had been assaulted by him in the past but had not dared come forward before? By naming him they would have been more likely to

There is no reason not to name the accused. Occasionally it works to the accused's own benefit. I can't recall the exact details but there was a case where several former female employees of an accused came forward of their own volition to speak up as character witnesses.

I asked how you would feel if your relative was FALSELY accused, of course all rapists have family, silly comment to come back with

Is that the same story that's already been discussed on this thread?

Rtft ffs.

Seven RTFT.

That case has already been linked to and discussed.

It also wasn't proven to be a false accusation.

Well, I'm posting because I agree with what's being said. I accept the facts and figures presented to me.

I have a daughter that I worry about and sons that I'm trying to educate with regards to women.

I'm interested in Feminism and trying to learn more.

Posters who don't believe men being falsely accused of rape ruins their lives should read this heartbreaking article.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/29/mother-of-son-who-hanged-himself--after-being-falsely-accused-of/

You are not prepared to see any other view than your own are you? So I put it back - what's the point in posting on here?

Some men are evil and some women can be vindictive bitches - there's bad on either side. Lives shouldn't be ruined for either.

Though I understand what you are trying to say, imo that phrase makes it look too much like an equal equation of:
false rapes/accused person's life ruined vs true rapes/raped person's life ruined.
It couldn't be less equal.

For what it is worth, I agree that it would be awful to be accused of rape/murder/killing my own child in a cot death for example/theft. People have been wrongly accused for all of these.

There has recently be a case of a school teacher, Kato? who was accused by student of raping her on 3 occasions in a classroom(?) with a glass window and an open door at lunch time I think. He was acquitted by the jury in a short time. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/26/geography-teacher-cleared-of-raping-private-school-pupil-whose-f/
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/26/geography-teacher-cleared-of-raping-private-school-pupil-whose-f/
So many people seem sure he was innocent, it seems he will genuinely be believed to be innocent terrible though it must be for him.

But what if other students had been assaulted by him in the past but had not dared come forward before? By naming him they would have been more likely to. This has been the case with abuse at some famous schools. That they did not, was in his favour I should think.

Here, a girl killed herself because she was going to be prosecuted for false rape allegations. (I do not know the story behind the allegations)
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3711168/Angry-vengeful-shipping-magnate-s-son-loses-libel-case-against-father-woman-accused-rape-killed-hers

Imagine if it was your brother/father/nephew/uncle etc who was falsely accused?

Because of course if my father, uncle, nephew or brother was accused of rape then the accusation would of course without a doubt be a false one.

Obviously rapists don't have families or friends or jobs or any kind of life outside raping people and of course all rapists have horns and the word "rapist" tattooed on their forehead.

So there is of course no way that anybody's father or son or nephew could have possibly raped someone therefore the accusation would obviously be a false one.

Right.

Ok. Obviously by far too often I mean it should never ever happen, before you jump on me for that one.

I've not said anything like that. I don't have the answers, I wish I did.

As I have already said, rape is horrendous, happens far too often and I totally agree the sentencing is ridiculous.

All I am saying is that you can't just chuck people under the bus. Imagine if it was your brother/father/nephew/uncle etc who was falsely accused?

Hap I wonder why posters like that are not banned tbh.

What do they add to the place?